Thursday, February 28, 2008

panthay noodles

I was grabbed right away by this recipe for Burmese noodles in they nytimes, mostly because I bought a bottle of fish sauce like a year ago that I have never used. Jason D. talked me though buying it (there are different types and grades, kind of like olive oil) and maybe he could reprise that in the comments, but he might be in Vietnam as we speak?

There is quite a bit of prep for this recipe, as you can see. I recommend using waaayyyy more bok choy than they advise, it shrinks up to amazing tiny bits no matter how much you throw in there. Also, use extra fish sauce and curry! And make sure you add enough salt. And squeeze some lemon over it at some point instead of just squeezing it over at the end. I've made this twice in the last week. The combo of fish sauce and curry is a dynamite flavor bomb. I made it without chicken the second time because it didn't add a lot. The next thing I want to do is grill the chicken thighs and then add them. I used both bunh noodles and vermicelli and they were both good.

Delicious! I'm having the leftovers for lunch. Also, it costs about 4 bucks to make a big pot once you have the fish sauce and spices.

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Looks like you got a decent bottle of fish sauce. I'll admit I'm prejudiced towards Vietnamese fish sauce; though some find it more nasty than Thai. I think Thai fish sauce tends to be more salty, less fishy, which is good if you don't like fishy. But once you like the nasty fish taste you just want more of it. I think of it like cheese. That nasty smelly cheese used to put you off, but now you love it, right? Anyway, I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that the best Vietnamese fish sauce is either from Phan Thiet or Phu Quoc. And you want the label to say "Nuoc Mam Nhi" as opposed to just "Nuoc Mam". Pronounced , though without the proper accents, as "nook mom nyee" The "Nhi" refers to the first pressing. Lower grades are made from subsequent pressings.I just got back from the nam and I'm way jet lagged and at work thankful to have something mindless to do rather than face everything that has piled up in my absence.

hmmm. Well, we all have our own tastes. I think squid brand is pretty mediocre. It's ok for cooking, but I wouldn't use it to make nuoc cham.

yeah, i had some cheap streetside brew, what they call bia hoi. and some snake wine. I love it there and want to live there someday. I'm so tired now though I think I have to just go home; I can't think straight.